JOHN KERRY shouldn’t be so worried. Though he’s been trailing in polls behind former Vermont governor Howard Dean, the odds are that Kerry will be the next president of the United States. According to the “Presidential Height Index,” an admittedly unscientific comparison of the heights of all presidential aspirants since the advent of television, the tallest candidate in a presidential race usually wins. This is good news for the Massachusetts Democrat’s campaign. At 6’5″, Kerry towers over the other eight Democratic presidential candidates. And when it comes to the general election, Kerry also has little to worry about: He’s a full 6 inches taller than President Bush, who measures in at 5’11”. Of course, the PHI could be wrong. Like on-base-percentage, Miss Cleo, and other indicators of future performance, there are always exceptions to the rule. Kerry’s hair, which I guess counts for several inches of his height, could throw off the predictive power of the PHI.